After Ma’s departure, Kya’s older siblings slip away one by one. One morning Jodie cooks grits and eggs so they can eat before Pa wakes, but by sunset Pa has slugged Jodie. Jodie tells Kya he must leave too, warns her to hide from strangers and Pa, and disappears into the woods, leaving Kya alone.

Kya returns to an empty, silent kitchen and teaches herself to rekindle the stove and warm leftover grits. After several days without Pa, he staggers home, then burns Ma’s paintings, dresses, books, and the radio in a bonfire. Kya resists, standing her ground until Pa limps away, and she watches the last of Ma’s memories turn to ash. She adapts, moving like minnows—staying out of sight and sleeping on the porch.

Pa’s war-shattered leg brings disability checks but little stability. He tosses Kya a dollar for food and demands chores. Kya walks alone to Barkley Cove, intimidated by the town. She witnesses Miss Pansy Price scold bike-riding boys, including Chase Andrews, who blames Kya for getting in the way; Miss Pansy dismisses Kya as “swamp trash.” In the Piggly Wiggly, Mrs. Singletary questions Kya about her mother, slowly counts out change, and Kya flees home.

At the shack, Kya bungles grits, then slowly learns to cook and buy cheap cuts like backbones. She scrubs laundry, keeps the shack tidy, and coexists with Pa in near silence, maintaining the place for Ma’s imagined return.

When the autumn moon rises, Kya decides she is seven. Expecting Ma, she waits in her calico dress; when no one comes, she feeds grits to a swirl of gulls on the beach and tells them it is her birthday, confirming her loneliness and her growing bond with the marsh.